Designing a corporate communications site to generate new leads

Objectives

• Design a corporate communications website that captures Dorell’s brand and generate new leads
• Research how to best communicate company messaging through information architecture
• Make recommendations for how the webpage can better communicate the company's commitment to an environmental and sustainable future
• identify areas for improvement in terms of design and messaging

Discovery

Research - Exploring the problem space

To gain insight into needs and expectations for the new site, I interviewed various members of their leadership team and conducted research into the market to understand the client’s strengths and find opportunities for impact. I synthesized key findings into an affinity diagram to identify common trends and actionable insights.

Insights

• Getting the word out: In the past Dorell had relied on word of mouth and cold calling to show their fabric samples and bring in new accounts. However, continuing solely on this in-person business model was not entirely practical given the changing environment and expectations of remote work. The site needed to enducate on Dorell's breadth, scope of service and products

• Changing audiences: Historically, Dorell pitched their business directly to executive company stakeholders, but nowadays the main contacts for sales are mid-level representatives. The site had to support first impressions and brief visitors who were seeking an overall sense of who Dorell is. ‍

• Service-focused brand: Dorell is not a product-driven company, their competitive advantage is providing solutions that are tailored to each client. They wanted to use their site as a sales tool to generate interest in Dorell as a collaborative partner for companies that have a continued reliance on their solutions.

Opportunities

To take advantage of these opportunities, our main objectives for the site were…

• Providing a “to-the-point” explanation of Dorell’s story and offerings.
• Converting website visitors into potential new accounts.
• Establishing a web presence that markets Dorell’s credibility in the industry while emphasizing innovation and modernity.

Design

Mapping the IA

One of our main goals for the site was to ensure visitors would be able to understand what the company offered with minimal exploration on their end. The project scope only allowed resources for 5 unique page types, one of which was a flexible template containing components for customizable content. I used a stripped-down approach to the IA, limiting the unique templates to pages that would use components only used in place, such as the product index, and a contact page.

Result

Product index - Products as solutions

Since the goal of our client was not direct transactions, I opted to include a product index that linked to pages detailing environments and settings that Dorell had experience providing solutions in. The content on these pages promotes Dorell’s reputation as a problem solver and versatility with the types of industries they partner with.

Trends - Visualizing Trends

In the past, Dorell’s team generated leads by manually sending static pdfs of their products to prospective clients. However, this approach was not easily scalable, and in order to set Dorell apart from other companies in the space, we designed a solution that would live on the site and showcase their creative side to customers. The Trends page is a collection of constantly evolving, curated groups of visual inspiration and corresponding samples that is easy for users to browse and share. As a highly visible feature on the homepage and in the site navigation, the Trends page served to validate the client’s expertise in curation and establish them as innovative leaders in a saturated market.